What’s in a name?

For the Warsaw Flying Club, it’s been the source of confusion by the Warsaw Municipal Airport and Board of Aviation Commissioners as to what the club is.

It’s not a club at all, but a limited liability corporation that offers a membership, Katye Fussle told the board during its meeting Tuesday. Her husband, Jon Fussle, the club president and founder, had told the board at its November meeting the same thing.

At the October meeting, Airport Manager Nick King detailed an unauthorized event the Club held at the airport on Sept. 19, which included a bag drop; and he said the Federal Aviation Administration was investigating the club’s action, which club members have denied. By the end of that meeting, the commissioners told the club it wanted a written statement by the November meeting detailing how it will conduct its future activities at the airport.

Then at the November meeting, the commissioners gave the Club some criteria to meet, as suggested by Board President Jay Rigdon. His five-point motion on the issue was to 1.) table indefinitely any consideration of termination of the Warsaw Flying Club’s agreement to operate; 2.) request the club impose term limits on all its leadership and put the limits into effect immediately; 3.) clarify that the leaders of the club have responsibility for the club’s actions or of its members during club-sponsored activities; 4.) any actions or directives of the FAA regarding the club and its activities will be followed by the airport and aviation commissioners; 5.) and the club was to provide a status report to the board by Dec. 31.

Katye Fussle updated the commissioners on that status report since Jon was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting. Rigdon also was absent from yesterday’s meeting.



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On the second item, she said she spoke with several different people and it was suggested to her that the Club not have a “technical board” because that then suggests Warsaw Flying “is trying to be more of a club than what we are, which is an LLC.” She said it does have an advisory board, however, of three different members of the community. She, Carla Quintero and Jayson Slabach are the three points of contact for leadership of the Club because Jon is gone flying so much, she said.

“Our name is the Warsaw Flying Club, it’s been that name since we started it, since Jon started it 14 years or so ago. But we are made up, like I said, we’re an LLC, so we’re similar to something like Sam’s Club would be. We’re a business, but we offer a membership, so that our members can receive ... discount aircraft rentals and discount flight instruction,” Katye said.

As a comparison, Slabach said Eagle Aircraft in Valparaiso has a flying club but is clearly a flying school. He said he is a member of its flying club as well to get discounted rates.

On item 3 about leaders’ responsibility, Katye said that was well laid out to the commissioners in a document sent out to them on Nov. 10.

Moving on to item 4 regarding the FAA’s directives or actions against the Club, she said, “I do just want to repeat the Warsaw Flying Club is not and we have not ever received any kind of communication from the FAA that we are under investigation. They’re required to do so within three business days. You get a certified letter if you were under investigation. We still have not received any sort of violation so we are not under any kind of investigation with the FAA.”

If the Club were under investigation, she said it would be the Club that would receive communication from the FAA, not the board, unless they were directly involved in some way.

John Yingling, Board of Aviation vice president, said they appreciated the update.

“I think the biggest reason for Jay’s motion, and I don’t want to speak for Jay, but based upon what I’m understanding his reason for his motion was, is because as a board, we were confused on what you guys were. Whether you were a flying club or a business,” Yingling said.

He said he didn’t know if the Board of Aviation Commissioners ever voted on the Club operating as a business at the airport, which is requirement of the airport policy. Longtime board member Gene Zale said he also didn’t recall that ever being done.

“So that was a part of it,” Yingling said. “And part of my confusion, I know, is I don’t recall that ever happening.”

Katye said the Club pays the commercial licensing fees to the airport every year and she didn’t realize there was a misunderstanding. Yingling told King he needed to investigate where they were on that approval and report back to the board at the January meeting whether they need to vote on that or not.

“It’s just all a part of the confusion we’re just trying to iron out. We appreciate the updates, and now we know how you’re operating and we can go forward,” he said.

King said if the approval for the Club to operate at the airport as a business hasn’t been granted, it shouldn’t be that difficult.

Dan Robinson, board member, said part of the reason he voted against Rigdon’s motion in November was because during the meeting Rigdon started talking about the Club having to choose between being a LLC and 501(c)3 and “I was pretty sure he was starting to conflate two different issues, and it shouldn’t be.”

Robinson said he thought the reason for the FAA having a definition of a flying club was “because if you’re a 501(c)3 versus a for-profit, the FAA has a different level of inspection requirements and stuff. It’s got nothing to do with what they call themselves. So when he said they had to choose, I think that was a mistake. I think he misunderstood the FAA rule.”

King added, “I think there was a misunderstanding just across the board, a miscommunication, on all sides. So I apologize on behalf of the board and myself for this miscommunication.”

As an airport manager, he said the only reason it was important for the airport to know what the Club was operating as is because the FAA has “some of the most strict, discriminatory rules out of any organization at the federal level.” A flying club has one set of rules and a flying school has a different set of rules.

“I think that’s where a lot of the confusion came from, is being called the Warsaw Flying Club, having club members. To us, that’s where a lot of that confusion came from,” King said, adding that now the airport knows the Club is an LLC.